After much speculation and so many reports, the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council (GC) has finally announced the retention rules. A meeting was held in Bengaluru earlier today where several decisions were made for the next season.
Several points are announced by the league ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. That includes the number of retentions and several other important points, including a few fresh ones.
We look at eight key points made by BCCI for IPL 2025.
Teams can retain up to 6 players
The first and most important point is that teams can retain as many as six players before the IPL 2025 auction. It is up to teams to decide whether they retain six players directly or use the Right To Match (RTM) during the auction.
For instance, if a team keeps three players in the squad, they can use RTM on as many as three players. The total number of retentions and RTMs shouldn’t exceed six.
Maximum 5 capped and 2 uncapped players
If a team retains all six players, one of them must be uncapped. A maximum of five capped and two uncapped players can be retained or used RTM ahead of the auction.
Further, there’s no cap on the number of Indian and overseas players, and teams can pick any number of Indian and foreign players. This decision has been made at the discretion of IPL franchises.
The auction purse increased and new match fees
The auction purse has been increased to INR 120 crore from INR 100 crore. That means the total salary cap will have an auction purse, incremental performance pay, and match fee from the upcoming editions.
Previously, only auction purse and incremental performance pay were included in the total salary cap. During the IPL 2025, the salary cap will be INR 146 crore, INR 151 crore in IPL 2026, and INR 157 crore in IPL 2027.
Match Fee of INR 7.50 Lakhs announced
A match fee of INR 7.50 Lakhs per game is also announced, with players featuring in all league games earning INR 1.05 crore apart from their contracted fee. It will include playing as an impact player during the game.
There was no match fee in the league before and will be part of the league for the first time. It will be awarded over the player’s contracted amount.
Mandatory for overseas players to register for the mega auction
The overseas players will have to register for the mega auction from now on. If a player doesn’t register himself for the big auction, he will be ineligible to register for the next year’s auction.
The move has been done to prevent players from directly coming in the mini auction. This strategy has been used to fetch more amount since mini auctions will have a less player pool and increase their final amount.
Players to get banned if they make themselves unavailable after getting picked
In another massive move, if a player registers for the mega auction and gets picked, he must make himself available for that season. If a player makes himself unavailable after being sold, he will be banned from participating in the auction or playing in the tournament for two seasons.
Previously, players like Jason Roy and Adam Zampa have pulled out of the league at the last moment. They will suffer consequences now if they do the same.
Capped Indian player to play as an uncapped
If a player has not played for India or doesn’t have BCCI’s central contract for five years before the relevant IPL season, he will be treated as an uncapped player. This rule was from the start of the league before being scrapped ahead of the IPL 2022 auction.
However, it has been brought back keeping MS Dhoni’s future in the league in mind. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) can retain Dhoni as an uncapped player now because his last India game came in 2019, meaning it has been more than five years.
Impact Player rule to remain
Lastly, the Impact Player rule will continue for the next cycle. It was announced before IPL 2023 and has been used in the past two seasons.
A few franchises wanted this rule to go away, but the BCCI has decided to keep it. It has allowed batters to play more freely, which has resulted in high scores during the last season.
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